Founder feelings: doing business with Depression
Today is the antepenultimate day of the UK’s 2022 Mental Health Awareness Week, which runs from 9th-15th of May. It’s also the first of a couple of days leave I’ve taken to look after my own mental health after noticing that my brain was entering one of its (now occasional) foggy periods.
A quick note on my personal relationship with mental health. I have experienced periods of low mood for as long as I remember. However, it wasn’t until my early twenties that a doctor volunteered a diagnosis and told me that I was suffering from Depression. It was even later in my mid twenties that I first opted to take medication. I’ve been taking Citalopram, a pretty common SSRI antidepressant, ever since. I’m glad to say that I’m in the c.60% of people who find that medication helps. Medication certainly isn’t a panacea (Depression is a chronic illness), and ups and downs are still to be expected, but it can offer a base of much needed stability.
Depression, and the myriad of other mental health conditions that exist, present very real challenges to the everyday life of those experiencing them. I count myself very lucky that my experience with mental illness has been from a position of privilege. I have always had access to healthcare, a support network, and a stable income. This isn’t the case for everyone. The pernicious intersection of poor mental health, poverty, and the other socioeconomic disadvantages that affect the most vulnerable in society is something that, even in the context of today’s more inclusive discourse, is under-recognised and underexplored.
As a middle-class professional I have been spared the most difficult aspects of living with Depression but, nonetheless, I have found that the interplay between work and mental health has presented some interesting challenges over the years. I think that, at least some of this, is due to the fact that my job is being an ‘entrepreneur’ (in quotation marks to note the tinge of embarrassment I feel when I use this phrase!).
Entrepreneurship is a pursuit which is strange and exciting in equal measure, and one which blurs the lines between professional and personal life; placing unusual and often unexpected demands on the people who engage with it as an identity and as a lifestyle. I’d like to be very clear here. I’m not saying it is more ‘difficult’ than other jobs (personally I think being a nurse is much harder), but I do think it creates a unique set of circumstances and experiences which, in the context of mental illness, require particular tactics for managing one’s wellbeing.
Doing business with depression
This remainder of this blog offers three thoughts for entrepreneurs trying to grow a business and deal with the vagaries of mental illness. Again, my personal experience is with Depression only so I can’t claim to understand other conditions, but I hope the ideas are useful nonetheless.
First thought
Success and mental health issues are not mutually exclusive.
It’s super easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you, and your business, are doomed to failure because of the difficulties you are experiencing with your mental health. As is now well understood, Depression, and other mental health conditions, operate by interfering with the balance of neurotransmitters that regulate our thoughts and moods. If your good guy chemicals (such as Serotonin) are currently out of whack then it’s no surprise that you’re struggling to see the positives of the business you have worked hard to build.
But don’t take it from me. A quick Google will demonstrate that many of the best known and most successful business people have had their own battles with mental health. Over the years I have found it very useful, and reassuring, to look outside of the world of business and read about people who have experienced Depression and still managed to be very successful in their respective fields. The stories shared by politician Alisatair Campbell and boxer Ricky Hatton have been a personal source of inspiration.
Second thought
Negative personal experiences can positively inform company culture.
We must, of course, be aware when our biases can have a negative impact on the culture we are trying to create inside our businesses. However, founders having personal experience of mental illness can, if used sensitivity and correctly, be a positive thing. Part of your job as an entrepreneur is to create a successful organisation and, (trite recommendations of installing a ping pong table and buying an office dog aside), the culture you build has a direct impact on the likelihood of this success.
Drawing on your personal understanding of mental health and using this to create a compassionate and open work environment can directly help with talent acquisition and employee wellbeing and retention. Today, quite rightly, people want to work for businesses that allow them to flourish despite their personal challenges. At my current company, The Ambassador Platform, we’ve embraced this approach in the form of an Employee Assistance Programme, regular 1-2-1s focussing on wellbeing, and a genuinely open dialogue about mental health.
Third thought
Learning when to stop can be good for business.
The classical paradigm of entrepreneurship is one of unequivocal and relentless work. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is the reality most of the time. Growing a business isn’t easy, whatever the size or sector, and it requires consistent and often prodigious effort. The thing is, if you suffer from Depression or another mental illness, then this just isn’t going to be possible 100% of the time. You might be able to do it 99% of the time, but there will always be that annoying 1% that forces you to stop, albeit briefly.
Recognise this and embrace it. You can waste a lot of time working suboptimally when you really should be looking after your wellbeing. I’m not saying that these periods need to be long or happen frequently, simply that they shouldn’t be ignored. Focussing on good food, sleep, and exercise during these recovery periods can actually lead to improved personal performance and overall business outcomes. Who knows, a stint of mildly melancholic introspection might actually lead to your next big idea.
A final note
Managing any mental health condition and growing a business isn’t easy, but it is possible. If you’re an entrepreneur and struggling with this juggling act then please feel free to reach out to me, I’d be more than happy to chat. And, as always, if you’re experiencing a mental health crisis then you should always access urgent support.
